Born: 1912 (Będzin, Poland)
Died: 1945 (Auschwitz, Poland)
Biography:
Ala Gertner (12 March 1912 – 5 January 1945), referred to in other sources as Alla, Alina, Ella, and Ela Gertner, was one of four women hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for her role in the Sonderkommando revolt of 7 October 1944.
Gertner was born in Będzin, Poland, as one of three children in a prosperous Jewish family. Before the German and Slovakia invasion of Poland, she attended the gymnasium in Będzin. The city was located in the industrial region of Zagłębie Dąbrowskie in south-western Poland on the border with Germany.
The German military took over Będzin on the first day of the invasion, burned the Grand Synagogue down within a week, and began massive resettlement actions. On 28 October 1940, Gertner was ordered to report to the train station in nearby Sosnowiec, where she was taken to a Nazi labor camp in Geppersdorf (now Rzedziwojowice). Geppersdorf was a construction site where hundreds of Jewish men were used as forced laborers on the Reichsautobahn section (now Berlinka), while the women worked in the kitchen and laundry. Gertner, who was fluent in German, was assigned to the camp office, where she would meet Bernhard Holtz, a prisoner she would marry in the Będzin Ghetto the following year.
Geppersdorf was part of Organisation Schmelt, a network of 177 labor camps administered by Albrecht Schmelt, an SS Oberführer. Schmelt, appointed as the Special Representative of the Reichsführer SS for the Employment of Foreign Labor in Upper Silesia, was tasked with exploiting the local political and social conditions in western Poland. Over 50,000 Jews were forced to work for German businesses under Organisation Schmelt, primarily in construction, munitions, and textile manufacturing. Schmelt profited greatly from this system, with little money reaching the Jewish laborers.
In 1941, Gertner was allowed to return home and found employment in various local workshops and offices run by Moses Merin. However, the relative stability did not last long. In 1943, the Schmelt camps were incorporated into Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen, with Gertner likely being sent to Auschwitz.
On 7 October 1944, a group of Sonderkommando prisoners, including Gertner, launched a revolt against their captors at Auschwitz. The Sonderkommando were forced to assist with the extermination process and were determined to resist their own impending deaths. The rebellion was ultimately crushed by the SS, and Gertner, along with three other women, was among those executed as a reprisal. She was hanged on 5 January 1945.
Ala Gertner’s life was tragically cut short, but her courageous participation in the Auschwitz revolt demonstrated her unwavering determination and defiance in the face of unimaginable horrors. Her actions serve as a testament to the indomitable spirit of resistance during one of humanity’s darkest periods.